Erspan Dynamic Session Negotiation

1. A method comprising: discovering a Layer 3 (L3) source device and an L3 destination device, wherein the L3 source device passes target traffic to the L3 destination device that is monitored via the L3 destination device in a remote traffic monitoring session; identifying configurations of the L3 source device and the L3 destination device to be used for establishing the remote traffic monitoring session between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; determining common remote monitoring capabilities of the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; negotiating at least one parameter for the remote traffic monitoring session to create a unique identifier for the session to uniquely identify a flow of the target traffic from the L3 source device to the L3 destination device; and establishing the remote traffic monitoring session using information pertaining to the configurations, the common remote monitoring capabilities, and the at least one parameter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the remote traffic monitoring session comprises establishing the remote traffic monitoring session with Encapsulated Remote Switched Port Analyzer (ERSPAN) capabilities.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein establishing the remote traffic monitoring session with ERSPAN capabilities comprises establishing the remote traffic monitoring session with at least one of ERSPAN Type-II capabilities and ERSPAN Type-III capabilities.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising utilizing a unidirectional or bidirectional L3 Generic Routing Encapsulation tunnel from the L3 source device to the L3 destination device to establish the remote traffic monitoring session.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter includes at least one of a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), a Time to Live (TTL), and a timestamp granularity.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating and maintaining a keep-alive session automatically between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein negotiating comprises automatically negotiating at least one parameter for the remote traffic monitoring session.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: mirroring the target traffic to be passed by the L3 source device to the L3 destination device to remotely monitor the target traffic at the L3 source device and to encapsulate the target traffic within an L3 routable Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; verifying Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; and determining whether packets of the encapsulated target traffic should be truncated based on a maximum transfer unit (MTU) value of packets that can be transmitted between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

9. A method comprising: generating at least one keep-alive frame at a Layer 3 (L3) source device to be sent to an L3 destination device to verify communications between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; encapsulating the at least one keep-alive frame at a first remote monitoring hardware unit of the L3 source device; sending the at least one encapsulated keep-alive frame to the L3 destination device; decapsulating, at a second remote monitoring hardware unit of the L3 destination device, the at least one encapsulated keep-alive frame; processing the at least one encapsulated keep-alive frame at the L3 destination drive; transmitting, in response to successfully receiving, decapsulating, and processing the at least one encapsulated keep-alive frame at the L3 destination device, at least one response message from the L3 destination device to the L3 source device; at the L3 destination device, communicating a keep-alive echo response to the L3 source device; at the L3 source device, determining whether the keep-alive echo response is received by the L3 source device; and at the L3 source device, operating the L3 source device and L3 destination device in an operational bidirectional state if the keep-alive echo response is received by the L3 source device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising performing at least one Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity test between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein encapsulating comprises encapsulating the at least one keep-alive frame at an Encapsulated Remote Switched Port Analyzer (ERSPAN) hardware unit of the L3 source device that has at least one of ERSPAN Type-II capabilities and ERSPAN Type-III capabilities and wherein decapsulating comprises decapsulating the keep-alive frame at an ERSPAN hardware unit of the L3 destination device that has at least one of ERSPAN Type-II capabilities and ERSPAN Type-III capabilities.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein transmitting comprises transmitting the at least one response message that utilizes a User Datagram Protocol.

13. An apparatus comprising: a hardware unit configured to perform network session operations; an input/output device configured to communicate data ingress to and egress from the apparatus; a processor configured to: discover a Layer 3 (L3) source device and an L3 destination device; identify configurations of the L3 source device and the L3 destination device to be used for establishing a remote traffic monitoring session between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; determine common remote monitoring capabilities of the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; negotiate at least one parameter for the remote traffic monitoring session to create a unique identifier for the session to uniquely identify a flow of target traffic from the L 3 source device to the L3 destination device; and establish the remote traffic monitoring session using information pertaining to the configurations, the common remote monitoring capabilities, and the at least one parameter.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to initiate and maintain a keep-alive session automatically between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to initiate and maintain the keep-alive session utilizing User Datagram Protocol messages.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to initiate and maintain the keep-alive session that comprises at least one Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity test between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the hardware unit is an Encapsulated Remote Switched Port Analyzer (ERSPAN) hardware unit that supports at least one of ERSPAN Type-II capabilities and ERSPAN Type-III capabilities.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically negotiate at least one parameter for the remote traffic monitoring session.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically determine common remote monitoring capabilities of the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to use the at least one parameter that includes at least one of a Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU), a Time to Live (TTL), and a timestamp granularity.

21. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to mirror target traffic to be passed by the L3 source device to the L3 destination device to remotely monitor the target traffic at the L3 source device and to encapsulate the target traffic within an L3 routable Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; verify Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device; and determine whether packets of the encapsulated target traffic should be truncated based on a maximum transfer unit (MTU) value of packets that can be transmitted between the L3 source device and the L3 destination device.

22. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to utilize a unidirectional or bidirectional L3 Generic Routing Encapsulation tunnel from the L3 source device to the L3 destination device to establish the remote traffic monitoring session.